


Three Candles

by wildheartmustang



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, It's really just sad mother/daughter bonding, Post-Canon, Severa actually raising children, Severa is a changed woman, Slice of Life, not just dumping them in a hyperbolic time time chamber
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6498412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildheartmustang/pseuds/wildheartmustang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“I’ll tell you when you’re older. I’ll tell you all about how I fought for peace and about the brave people who gave their lives for that peace. Until then, just remember that dreams can’t hurt you. I tell myself that when I wake up in the night.”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Candles

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for how badly written this is

Five years. Five years since she returned to Ylisse - returned to the time where her parents were still alive.

If Severa had been told even six years before that she would be back in her homeland, married and with two children she would’ve laughed straight in that person’s face, even worse her life was dangerously close to being perfect. She lived in a spacious house in the country that was filled with lavish things, there was enough land attached that allowed her husband’s pegasi to graze freely and she thought her daughter and her son were the most beautiful children to grace Naga’s earth. 

The summer was so wonderfully warm and Severa appreciated being sat out in the sunshine, allowing the light to bask her skin. Her son had turned six months old only a week ago and the family of four had travelled into the fields of Ylisse, to have a picnic, to celebrate their daughter turning three that day. It was difficult to believe just how much her life had changed in those few years, but it made her smile to watch Matoi and her father walk amongst the tall, thick grass picking wild flowers and playing chase around an ancient Oak Tree.

She held her six month old son close, the baby looked around with the same cool auburn eyes that belonged to his father. Severa smoothed the little quiff on the crown on his head that refused to lie flat and she hoped to the gods that little Luka wouldn’t have the same black, unruly hair as his grandfather, but it seemed a little late for wishing and praying.

Matoi gave a squeal as her father lifted her up and swung her around in circles, Severa gave a light laugh as she looked on before picking up a ham sandwich and taking a bite from it. Luka gave a disapproving frown about something, and looked up to his mother.

“What’s that face for?” Severa asked

The baby gave a whimper before giving a frustrated cry. He had the same frown as her, it wasn’t really something she was proud of though.

“Hey, shhh… It’s ok, are you hungry?” Severa unbuttoned her shirt and allowed her son to feed much to his immediate gratification, she wasn’t surprised it had been a few hours since his last feed. She watched as the milk, from her still full breast, dripped a little down the child’s cheek; she wiped it up quickly. At least he fed well, she reckoned.

“Mummy! Look!”

Severa looked up and saw her perfect daughter waving a bunch of flowers in the air, as her equally perfect father carried her on his hip.

“Did you pick all those by yourself, sweetheart?” Severa asked, when her daughter had her feet firmly on the floor. She brushed down her daughter’s brand new pink dress that she picked out for her birthday, it was covered in pollen and seeds from the tall grass.

“Yes!” Matoi replied with a vigorous nod.

“They’re lovely!”

Severa saw her husband smile brightly. “Matoi picked those flowers for you,” he said

“Did you really?” Matoi held the bunch of flowers out in front of Severa’s face, a smile beaming out the like the sun.

“I love you, mummy!” She exclaimed

Severa almost burst into tears there and then, she didn’t know what she did to deserve such a kind daughter. “You silly girl! It’s _your_ birthday today, we should be spoiling you!”

“But- But I love you mummy!”

Severa couldn’t refuse her daughter’s gift for her when she saw the look on her small face; she took the flowers graciously and bestowed a kiss on Matoi’s cheek.

“I love you too, sweetheart.” She replied. “Tsubaki, shall we get the cake and candles out and sing Happy Birthday?”

“Heh. Let’s do before we forget about it,”

“We can’t forget about the cake, daddy!” Matoi gasped in horror.

Tsubaki gave a chuckle as he presented the cake from the basket that was covered in smooth chocolate ganache, which garnered a happy noise from his daughter.

“It’s _chocolate_!”

“Your mother made it for you,” He didn’t mention that was him who did the icing because his wife got frustrated at not being able to get the right consistency. Severa did most of the work and that’s what mattered.

“Thank you mummy!” The little girl showed her gratitude with wrapping her little arms around her mother’s neck, Severa returned the hug as best as she could with a baby feeding on her breast.

Three candles were placed on the cake and Tsubaki lit them with matches, the little flames flickered ever so in the gentle breeze.

“ _Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Matoi, Happy Birthday to you!_ ”

“Make a wish, Matoi.” Tsubaki whispered.

The girl squeezed her eyes shut and frowned in intense thought, the adults waited patiently for her. Severa guessed that she was trying to make the perfect wish, she was already like her father in almost everyway.

When she opened her eyes, Tsubaki urged her to blow the candles out. Her little lungs managed two candles in one breath, her father subtly snuffed the third out. Severa noticed her daughter’s face full of pride when she saw the smoke that was in place of the flames, and they gave a round of applause for her.

The cake was cut and Matoi was given the first slice; she may have got her new dress covered in cake crumbs and her face was smeared with rich chocolate icing but she enjoyed the sweet treat nonetheless. Luka finished his feed finally and his father took him for a cuddle.

“Look at your face,” Severa tutted in an overly maternal manner, wiping the chocolate from her daughter’s cheeks. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Yes! It was really yummy!” Came the enthusiastic reply, Severa giggled.

“I’m sure Soleil and Ophelia will enjoy having some tomorrow when they come to visit!”

“And we can play games and feed daddy’s pegasuses!”

It was then that the youngest member of the family let out another wail and buried his head into his father’s shoulder, Tsubaki gave the baby a pat on his back to try and comfort him but to no avail.

“He might be a bit hot, Tsubaki. Take him into the shade and see if he’ll cool down.” Severa didn’t necessarily mean for that to be a straight order, but her husband performed it without question. He trusted her judgement too well at this point.

The mother and daughter were left alone and Severa began putting food away so that the wasps and other creepy crawlies wouldn’t get it.

“Mummy…”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I had a bad dream.”

“Last night?”

Matoi nodded.

“Do you remember what it was about?”

Matoi shook her head.

“No wonder you were so tired this morning… Did it make you feel sad?” 

Matoi nodded her head once more, Severa gave her a sympathetic smile.

“It’s ok. I have bad dreams all the time,” she admitted.

“You do?”

“Mhmm. Sometimes they’re so scary they wake me up.”

“Do you scream?”

Severa startled at her daughter’s question, she couldn’t even reply.

“I hear you scream.”

Severa immediately brought her daughter in for a hug and tried to hold back some tears. She never wanted to let her daughter see her cry.

“I so sorry if I made you worry.”

“What do you dream about, mummy?”

Severa didn’t answer, instead content with holding her child for comfort.

“Mummy, what do you dream about?” Matoi repeated again, clearly wanting an answer.

“Scary monsters. Being alone. Running away.” She simply stated.

“Why?”

Severa let out a breathy laugh and thought of how nice it would be for her biggest question in life to be ‘Why?’.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older. I’ll tell you all about how I fought for peace and about the brave people who gave their lives for that peace. Until then, just remember that dreams can’t hurt you. I tell myself that when I wake up in the night.” There was a pause as the sound of wind brushed through the leaves in the trees.

“If I get scared can I come sleep with you and daddy?” She asked, looking up at Severa, the innocence running deep in her eyes.

Severa smiled and stroked her chubby cheeks.

“Of course. We won’t ever leave you to be scared on your own.”

The night terrors were worth it to know that her children could sleep soundly at night and when they woke in the morning, they had both their parents right there to tell them that they loved them.


End file.
